City pair to help ‘eczema cure’ goats milk sales

THE faces of two city siblings are set to become familiar to families across the UK – after their parents said goats’ milk is a miracle cure for eczema.

Alex and Charis Hewitt, of Polwarth, were driven to despair when their baby son, Laird, suffered with the skin condition and conventional creams prescribed by their ­doctor proved useless.

But after visiting a ­herbalist who recommended switching from cows’ milk to goats’ milk, the nasty bout of eczema cleared up within weeks and Laird, now eight, has thrived ever since.

Alex and Charis, who have also raised their daughter, Laila, on goats’ milk, were so grateful that they wrote to St Helen’s Farm – which produces their favourite brand – along with photographs of the family in a “fort” built from empty cartons.

They have now been told that the faces of Laird and Laila, pupils at Bruntsfield ­Primary School, are to be featured on almost a million cartons sold throughout Britain.

Charis, 39, said: “It really was a miracle cure. Laird’s skin was so bad and he’d be upset because it was itching so much and would start bleeding.

“We tried everything and when I said I was going to try a herbalist the GP was quite dismissive, but they suggested the goats’ milk and within 30 days his dry skin and eczema patches had gone completely. We’ve never looked back.

“As soon as Laila was born we decided we weren’t even going to try cows’ milk – she’s always had goats’ milk and she loves it.”

It is believed that goats’ milk is less likely to prompt an allergic reaction than cows’ milk.

After eight years of being loyal customers the family began to save up empty containers and 35-year-old Alex, The Scotsman’s deputy picture editor and ­photographer, snapped the kids peeping through a goats’ milk carton fort.

After sending the photos to Yorkshire-based St Helen’s Farm, the company agreed to include the images on hundreds of thousands of packs.

Charis said: “It’s a bit weird because I pick it up in the supermarket all the time. To see my own two kids on the cartons is going to be a bit bizarre.

“But I think a lot of ­parents need to know about this. Laird’s eczema got so bad and nothing was working, I hope it can help other people.”

Six-year-old Laila said that she was looking forward to becoming the face of goats’ milk throughout the country.

She said: “I like the taste of the milk, it’s yummy. I’m excited that a lot of people are going to see me on the cartons.”

Mike Hind, St Helen’s Farm marketing manager, said: “We receive many stories from people that have switched to goats’ milk and have found that the symptoms of a number of health conditions such as eczema, and digestion problems have improved. This is our way of saying thank you to Laird and Laila for helping to spread the word.”